Islands’ inventive pop-ups highlight local ingredients

Bay Area celebrity chef Ravi Kapur‘s Hawai#8216;i-inspired Liloliho Yacht Club pop-up dinners made another appearance just before the holidays, according to yesterday’s mini-story in the SFis/Style section, which noted “dessert was eggnog and bacon apple malasada.”

But it’s not as if the pop-up trend hasn’t hit the islands themselves. Take Kupu Maui, for example, which takes its name from the Hawaiian word meaning “sprout,” “growth” or “upstart,” among other definitions. Chefs James “Kimo” Simpliciano (Westin Maui) and Jenna Haugaard (now in California, formerly of P&#257;&#8216;ia’s Flatbread Company) and host Dania Katz started the monthly experience on the Valley Isle last April with a brunch at Alii Kula Lavendar farms, including dishes such as Molokai sweet potato hash with ginger coconut cream and a quinoa salad with kale, cranberry and pumpkin, according to Mauishopgirl blogger Tania Ginoza.

The focus is on local ingredients (up to 90 percent), with multi course meals served on “sumptuously set” tables, usually on an island farm; in August Kupu Maui gathered at the Bailey House Museum in Wailuku – formerly a farm and the compound of Maui’s last ruling chief, Kahekili — to raise funds for the nonprofit institution. The pop-ups take place on the third Saturday of the month, and reservations ($75) go quickly; the next sold-out event is Jan. 19, at Malama Farms in Ha&#8216;ik&#363;. Sign up for the online newsletter (using form is at bottom of the homepage) for a chance to reserve a spot at the next function.

In my most recent Aloha Friday column on Hawai&#8216;i travel news, I wrote about the rotating restaurateurs of Taste in Honolulu (Kaka&#8216;ako; on Kaua’i, Grow Culture has sponsored a pop-up steakhouse (serving local beef) and farm-to-table harvest dinner at Kauapea Farms in Kilauea, among other events. The Garden Isle is also home to a new supper club in Anahola, serving three-course meals from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights, to highlight the work of local food vendors; it’s the brainchild of the Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association.

And throughout the islands there are many, many other inventive chefs promoting sustainable, locally produced cuisine — I’ve written about a number of them in the last few years — so while it’s still easy to find what the SFis/Style blurb calls “the usual safe-for-tourists Hawaiian fare,” you don’t have to wait for a pop-up, here in the Bay Area or in the islands, to try something different.